Who still wants Madejski to sell?

[glenroyal]

I agree with the concensus ... SJM will sell if he sees the finance raised as being in the best interests of the club (In which case yes, I would want him to sell) ... but he's not going to sell to some trumped up "munto" debt financing scam for 15 minutes of fame like Notts Co is he

He's been around the business block a few times - successfully.

[Jack Celliers]

Portsmouth are on their fourth owner of the year, so there must be at least three likely candidates for buying the club kicking around - ones with Premiership experience as well.

[BR2]

It's all very well but our chairman is now a poor old age pensioner and who knows how long he will last on this earth with the above RPI fuel increases leading to major running costs of chez Mad.
Wouldn't it be better if he sold now and kept his promise that he wouldn't sell to just any old buyer rather than wait until the executors of his will/estate try to come up with the biggest offer for the benefit of his heirs?
The excitement of Saturday will no doubt have shortened his life expectancy as it has for the rest of us.

[Sun Tzu]

It's all very well but our chairman is now a poor old age pensioner and who knows how long he will last on this earth with the above RPI fuel increases leading to major running costs of chez Mad.
Wouldn't it be better if he sold now and kept his promise that he wouldn't sell to just any old buyer rather than wait until the executors of his will/estate try to come up with the biggest offer for the benefit of his heirs?
The excitement of Saturday will no doubt have shortened his life expectancy as it has for the rest of us.

If SJM has made a will (pretty certain) then he'll have left his assets to someone and the the executors are unlikely to have anything to do with it.
In many ways (and without tempting fate) the scenario you paint is probably the least problematic for the club as he'll have had years to plan for it and ensure appropriate arrangements are in place. if ownership passed to his daughters it would effectively mean a 'no change' situation to what we have now.

[Vision]

It's this "ego" thing that stops him from selling but not solely in the way others have indicated.

He's been around football long enough to know that whatever happens fans feelings towards him are fickle. A good spell on the pitch and he's a God, a bad spell and he's a money-grabbing egomaniac. What he really wants is to leave a legacy which is precisely why he won't sell to anyone without the best interests of the club at heart. He knows that legacy won't be defined by where we are in a league table at any given time but in how we function when he's not around.

FWIW (and i have nothing to back this up other than a hunch) I think he had a satisfactory buyer lined up that last Premiership season and had we stayed up (or even gone straight back up) I think the club would be in different hands today similiarly to what occurred at Birmingham City.

Whether that would have been a good thing or not I'm not entirely sure.

[loyalroyal4life]

i want him to sell to branson

[Silver Fox]

He's been around football long enough to know that whatever happens fans feelings towards him are fickle. A good spell on the pitch and he's a God, a bad spell and he's a money-grabbing egomaniac.

Only to the idiots really though and if I was as succesful as SJM I wouldn't really care what they thought

[Comfortably Numb]

I was just wondering after the week that's just past and the number of clubs facing winding up orders, who still wants Madejski to sell up to the closest 'Arab billionaire'? I've said it before, I think we've spent a lot of money recently for a club in our position and I for one am grateful to have SJM.

Agreed, but SJM has also lost his mojo and has achieved everything he wanted to with Reading. This club wont progress under his ownership now, IMO. A new owner, but the right owner, is required to take us forwards again. Nobody in their right mind can fault what JM has done here though!

[Sun Tzu]

I was just wondering after the week that's just past and the number of clubs facing winding up orders, who still wants Madejski to sell up to the closest 'Arab billionaire'? I've said it before, I think we've spent a lot of money recently for a club in our position and I for one am grateful to have SJM.

Agreed, but SJM has also lost his mojo and has achieved everything he wanted to with Reading.

See Vision's very sensible post for the counter to this.

SJM has achieved some of what he wanted to but his main aim has always (from what he has said) been to safeguard the long term future of the club. That is an aim that can never be ticked off as 'done' but I suspect he would see everything to date as being a waste if we ended up doing a Pompey.

[Terminal Boardom]

It's this "ego" thing that stops him from selling but not solely in the way others have indicated.

He's been around football long enough to know that whatever happens fans feelings towards him are fickle. A good spell on the pitch and he's a God, a bad spell and he's a money-grabbing egomaniac. What he really wants is to leave a legacy which is precisely why he won't sell to anyone without the best interests of the club at heart. He knows that legacy won't be defined by where we are in a league table at any given time but in how we function when he's not around.

FWIW (and i have nothing to back this up other than a hunch) I think he had a satisfactory buyer lined up that last Premiership season and had we stayed up (or even gone straight back up) I think the club would be in different hands today similiarly to what occurred at Birmingham City.

Whether that would have been a good thing or not I'm not entirely sure.

his legacy as far as the football club is concerned is confirmed. Whatever happens in the future, he will always be remembered for providing the stadium. Otherwise I hate to say it but I agree with Vision. I am off now to stick pins in my eyes!

[Plymouth_Royal]

As someone pointed out he is a great businessman and as a result what he says are different from his intentions. He wants to sell, no denying that. But he says wants to sell to a footballing man who understands the club. These days that is a bit of a rarity and I honestly think he's looking for the chairman who is going to pay stupid money for his overly priced club. It's odd how many teams can attract a new owner just like that yet we can't, maybe due to his valuation of the club?

[Hoop Blah]

Probably more due to him wanting to sell to someone who will look after the club and not just some fly by night wide boy like every other recent new owner I can think of (apart from Randy Learner of course who's been the perfect owner so far).

[Jimmy the Tree]

As someone pointed out he is a great businessman and as a result what he says are different from his intentions. He wants to sell, no denying that. But he says wants to sell to a footballing man who understands the club. These days that is a bit of a rarity and I honestly think he's looking for the chairman who is going to pay stupid money for his overly priced club. It's odd how many teams can attract a new owner just like that yet we can't, maybe due to his valuation of the club?

Have there really been any people taking over a Championship Club and injected the sort of money that the fans want, without running up massive debts?
Wolves maybe, but they are more of a special case. We can now discount Cardiff, QPR and Crystal Palace from this list.

[ElmParker]

SJM is like an aging patriarch trying to look after a large family and set them up to manage when he’s gone.

He wants the children to be happy but knows that most of the time it’s better not to give in to all the pestering but, instead, put up with whinging and tantrums knowing that, when finally they grow up, the kids will be better adults as a result.

Daddy can't afford to buy us a pony and a quad bike and a radio-controlled plane, so everyone should quit f*cking whining and play with the perfectly serviceable toys he bought us for previous birthdays.

[rabidbee]

^^^ Word.

Have there really been any people taking over a Championship Club and injected the sort of money that the fans want, without running up massive debts?

Can you even inject that kind of money as a top-4 team without running up massive debts?

[Dirk Gently]

^^^ Word.

Have there really been any people taking over a Championship Club and injected the sort of money that the fans want, without running up massive debts?

Can you even inject that kind of money as a top-4 team without running up massive debts?

If you inject any kind of money - unless you actually give it over and expect nothing back - then you are running up debts. They may not be external debts, but they still appear on the balance sheet as debts and have to be paid back one way.

[Jimmy the Tree]

If you inject any kind of money - unless you actually give it over and expect nothing back - then you are running up debts. They may not be external debts, but they still appear on the balance sheet as debts and have to be paid back one way.

Thats the point I was trying to make, I couldn't think of any clubs that had been given money without it being a debt to the club.

I wasn't sure what Jack Hayward did at Wolves though, as he was a lifelong fan, I don't know if all the money he invested in the Stadium and team were gifts or are still haunting the current owners.

[Dirk Gently]

If you inject any kind of money - unless you actually give it over and expect nothing back - then you are running up debts. They may not be external debts, but they still appear on the balance sheet as debts and have to be paid back one way.

Thats the point I was trying to make, I couldn't think of any clubs that had been given money without it being a debt to the club.

I wasn't sure what Jack Hayward did at Wolves though, as he was a lifelong fan, I don't know if all the money he invested in the Stadium and team were gifts or are still haunting the current owners.

I think that was gifted, but only up to a point, when Hayward recognised that the amounts he had to throw into it were endless, and he complained of being "the golden tit".

Abramovich has written off some of the debt recently, but still a considerable amount remains. Notts County were being given the money - and look how well that went.

[BR2]

It's all very well but our chairman is now a poor old age pensioner and who knows how long he will last on this earth with the above RPI fuel increases leading to major running costs of chez Mad.
Wouldn't it be better if he sold now and kept his promise that he wouldn't sell to just any old buyer rather than wait until the executors of his will/estate try to come up with the biggest offer for the benefit of his heirs?
The excitement of Saturday will no doubt have shortened his life expectancy as it has for the rest of us.

If SJM has made a will (pretty certain) then he'll have left his assets to someone and the the executors are unlikely to have anything to do with it.
In many ways (and without tempting fate) the scenario you paint is probably the least problematic for the club as he'll have had years to plan for it and ensure appropriate arrangements are in place. if ownership passed to his daughters it would effectively mean a 'no change' situation to what we have now.

The role of the executor is to administer the estate and therefore it depends upon whether the shares in the club have been left to individuals or assets deriving from the sale of those shares-the executor(s) must take a decision in the best interests of the beneficiary and so the wording of the will is very important.
You assume that he has got everything sorted but you would be surprised how many very wealthy people do not have their personal affairs clearly sorted-partly because in a lot of cases they think that they will live forever.

Incidentally for such a successful businessman he must have badly mismanaged matters to be so seriously affected by the credit crunch that he had to sell so many players therefore your assumption that his house is in order ahead of death may well be wide of the mark and often beneficiaries have no qualms about selling the family silver that has been guarded so carefully for so long.
I would prefer him to sell as soon as possible especially as he has made the point so many times about it needing to be the right buyer rather than trust a beneficiary of his estate to care quite so much.

I am wondering about whether to ask him if he has any objection to me taking out a policy on his life as I could incur extra costs regarding season tickets on his early death thus an insurable interest.

[Wycombe Royal]

Incidentally for such a successful businessman he must have badly mismanaged matters to be so seriously affected by the credit crunch that he had to sell so many players

I'm not really understanding thatcomment.

a) we got relegated and are gettingour last parachute payment
b) alot of his business interests are in property so how exactly could he have managed it better so as not to be affected?